Six Questions With Andreas S Jensen

Six Questions With Andreas S Jensen

We recently launched a new series here on Indie Minded called “Six Questions With…,” a series of interviews with emerging artists, musicians, and bands focusing on the music scene and how they live within it. Over time, the questions may change, but the sentiment will stay intact. This is a way for independent artists to be discovered by new fans on a global scale.

Within in each post, you will find all of their social media links, and also either a link to their music, or the ability to stream at least one of their tracks or videos, depending on the availability.

We hope you enjoy this series, and if you know anyone that might be interested in being part of it, please have them reach out to us for more information.

Next in the hot seat is London-based indie singer-songwriter Andreas S Jensen. We’re new to his music, just like you probably will be, but this is what is so good about this series! Sit back and enjoy!

For those who may not be familiar, please tell us about your music: the type of music you play, where you are from, and how you got started?

Well. It’s more like a solo project than a band. It’s basically evolved around songs I have written, some of them by myself and some of them with other writers.

I worked professionally as a producer for years and am used to building songs up in a studio situation, so thats what I’ve done. I sing and play guitar and bass on all the songs and have invited a number of other musicians in to play on the tracks.

There’s live drums on all the songs. That was a rule I put down early on in the process.

I play live solo, as a duo with drummer Jack Cowens, and as a three/sometimes four piece band……

I’m not sure if you can classify my music as being one “type” of music. It’s kind of a mix of a lot of different styles: Classic acoustic singer-songwriter, rock, indie, pop, country, a little bit of electronics, even 30’s German cabaret……

I was born in Germany, grew up on the countryside in Denmark, we lived in India for a while, and moved to a Copenhagen when I was 10. I played in bands and wrote songs from when I was in my early teens, and some of the bands became quite successful.

I was also always interested in music production and got gradually more and more involved.

When I moved to London I continued playing in bands while working on and off in bars, and at a street market, and as a tele marketeer…. I spent every moment of spare time I had writing and producing in my room in the house share where I lived.

When I got a publishing deal and a producer… manager, things started happening. They set me up with other writers, producers and artists and suddenly things was moving really fast. I was working my ass off, was writing with some great people and big artists, and some of the songs did really well. I ended up having a nice studio in Kensal Rise overlooking the canal……but at that point I was kind of burnt out…….. I was depressed and negative about everything and stopped writing completely.

Then I went to Austin, Texas and started writing with local songwriters there. That was when I got inspired to start singing and performing again…..and here I am….

As an artist, how do you define success?

Success is many things. For me, it’s important to do my songs and productions, it means everything to me. It makes me feel fulfilled. But if nobody is listening or if nobody cares about my music, it hits me quite hard.

Success is when people listen and like what they hear….. Not that i desperately would want to change what I do if people didn’t like it. I have been there….writing pop music for other people, trying to second guess what other people like…..it’s ok….like sports….but when i perform myself I like it to be my taste 100%. Success is when I hit that point and people like it too…..

Making a living from music was always important to me. It’s not a hobby. Being able to make a living doing it means a lot to me.

If you could only play ONE of your songs for the rest of your career, which one would it be?

It would be one of the songs that hasn’t been released yet.

What do you find to be your greatest struggle when it comes to the music business?

The hardest thing for me is to make this happen without any money coming in on it. It’s all really expensive: Mixing, mastering, promo, pluggers, videos, touring, rehearsals etc etc. It’s a lot of money going out … with no guarantees of any return. And I’m just a touring musician…..

It’s also hard to build a following. There’s a lot of bands out there, people get bombarded with music from all angles. a lot of it good, a lot of it not so…. But I try not to focus on all the negative. I just keep going…….

Who do you consider your greatest influences?

David Bowie is the artist that has meant most to me, I’m not sure if you can hear it in my music though. But there are so many….. The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Tom Petty, Outcast, Burt Bacharach, Neil Young, Jeff Buckley…….and thats just some of the old ones…

Outside of music, what do you like to do that you feel contributes to the creativity that you tap into for your music?

I like writing, reading, dancing, laughing, hangin’ out with my good friends and family….